Tunisia: Monitoring Political Finance
Funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems launched the I Watch Handbook on Monitoring Campaign Finance and regional briefings on campaign finance for I Watch’s local representatives.
The Handbook on Monitoring Campaign Finance is the first of its kind in the region. It will serve as the basis for unprecedented campaign finance monitoring efforts in Tunisia and North Africa.
Through funding from the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems IFES supported the development of the I Watch Handbook on Monitoring Campaign Finance and regional briefings on campaign finance for I Watch’s local representatives.
I Watch is a youth-led NGO that seeks to empower young people to fight corruption, observe elections and advocate for change. I Watch is the only organization working in Tunisia on campaign finance, particularly vote buying, and abuse of state resources. It advocates for the adoption of a legal framework on campaign and political party finance that is in line with international standards.
The Handbook on Monitoring Campaign Finance is the first of its kind in the region. It will serve as the basis for unprecedented campaign finance monitoring efforts in Tunisia and North Africa. To mark its launch, a press conference was held on 22 March 2013 in Tunis to explain its content to local media, civil society organizations and other interested stakeholders, including political parties. The handbook lays out the principles of professionalism, impartiality, non-partisanship and non-interference in the electoral process that guides the work of I Watch.
President and Founder of I Watch Mouheb Garoui said that I Watch will be the first NGO in the history of Tunisia to monitor campaign finance, and the first after the Arab Spring, explaining that by monitoring campaign finance, I Watch is closing a gap – as no watchdog organizations observed campaign finance during the last elections.
For her part, Yosra Mkadem, Manager of the Project on Monitoring Campaign Finance, stated that “when undertaking campaign finance monitoring, I WATCH understand its responsibility to be transparent about its work. By publishing its monitoring handbook, I WATCH seeks to set an example by applying to itself the very principle of transparency that it requests other State institutions to apply.”
For more information contact the Arab partnership Team